Women’s Identities at War
Grayzel, Susan
There are few moments in history when the division between the sexes
seems as "natural" as during wartime: men go off to the "war front,"
while women stay behind on the "home front." But the very notion of the
home front was an invention of the First World War, when, for the first
time, "home" and "domestic" became adjectives that modified the military
term "front." Such an innovation acknowledged the significant and
presumably new contributions of civilians, especially women, to the war
effort.
seems as "natural" as during wartime: men go off to the "war front,"
while women stay behind on the "home front." But the very notion of the
home front was an invention of the First World War, when, for the first
time, "home" and "domestic" became adjectives that modified the military
term "front." Such an innovation acknowledged the significant and
presumably new contributions of civilians, especially women, to the war
effort.
Yet, as Susan Grayzel argues, throughout the war,
traditional notions of masculinity and femininity survived, primarily
through the maintenance of--and indeed reemphasis on--soldiering and
mothering as the core of gender and national identities. Drawing on
sources that range from popular fiction and war memorials to newspapers
and legislative debates, Grayzel analyzes the effects of World War I on
ideas about civic participation, national service, morality, sexuality,
and identity in wartime Britain and France. Despite the appearance of
enormous challenges to gender roles due to the upheavals of war, the
forces of stability prevailed, she says, demonstrating the Western
European gender system's remarkable resilience.
Κατηγορίες:
Έτος:
1999
Εκδότης:
The University of North Carilina Press
Γλώσσα:
english
Σελίδες:
179
ISBN 10:
1469620812
ISBN 13:
9781469620817
Αρχείο:
PDF, 25.98 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 1999